Captors released a Franciscan priest who was among about 20 Christians kidnapped from a Syrian village near the border with Turkey, said the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. Franciscan Father Hanna Jallouf was being held under house arrest in a convent in Knayeh, a small Christian village i

Steps forward on sexual and medical ethics

Pope Francis and his bishops got a wake-up call on Oct. 7 from a Wisconsin couple who said the Catholic Church was failing to deal with the collapse of the traditional family.Jeff and Alice Heinzen of La Crosse told the pope and 180 bishops attending a synod devoted to family issues that they were a

A papal commission on child protection will be expanding its nine-member panel to include more experts and another survivor of clerical abuse.The Commission for the Protection of Minors, which Pope Francis established last December, is now awaiting the pope's approval of members' latest effo

More than 2,200 people packed the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark Oct. 4 to celebrate the first beatification liturgy in the United States.Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, a Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth from Bayonne, was given the title "blessed" in a joyful ceremon

Program offers women the chance to halt chemical abortion in first stages.